Wildside Holidays Clickable nature map of Iberia

« **on:** October 06, 2007, 14:26 PM »

Finally I have plucked up the courage to replace the original clickable nature map part of Wildside Holidays with a content management system.. I have used the latest Joomla! version 1.5 which is still in release candidate stage and so I am told "at the cutting edge of content management systems"...

Well if you are at the cutting edge you can expect to bleed a bit (or so I am told).

The main reason I am using it is because of the capabilities of the banner system which means I can put the people who advertise with us at Wildside Holidays on the relevant nature pages and also the way all the content gets categorized for search engine optimisation and "stuff like that"

Any way. what I really meant to post here is that Sue just finished an article about the dehesas of Extremadura.
Read Sue's article about dehesas of Extremadura here

Clive

« **Reply #1 on:** October 06, 2007, 14:54 PM »

Very clear Clive

« **Reply #2 on:** October 07, 2007, 15:21 PM »

I like the photo! Is that colour natural? We have a lone cork oak near us that we pass fairly regularly. It's been cut as long as I've known it but doesn't seem to have re-grown its bark. How long does this take? (Going past it tomorrow so will try and remember to slow down for a better look.)

« **Reply #3 on:** October 07, 2007, 15:29 PM »

The new stripped trees are that colour yes (sometimes more a yellowy orange)... It fades to brown after a few months and darkens as the years go by. Depending on the length of summers and temperatures it takes between 7 to 10 years for the bark to grow back to harvestable thickness.. Your tree up in the north will take a lot longer....

Where did your cork tree come from? How old is it and who planted it.. The Picos are not really noted for their cork trees...

I am working on a cork article now so will post a link when it is finished....

Clive

« **Reply #4 on:** January 16, 2008, 13:44 PM »

Hi All,

Sue has been quite busy uploading many of her orchid images and writing short identification articles to go with them. Her pictures are very good indeed.

http://www.wildsideholidays.com/natural/plantlife/82-orchids

Clive

« **Reply #5 on:** January 16, 2008, 22:15 PM »

Good to see it all coming together both. Went on to have a quick peek at the orrchids (great pic's) and ended up spending a good half an hour browsing around. Particularly pleasing to see that the majority of those orchids flower between March - May

« **Reply #6 on:** January 23, 2008, 20:27 PM »

Hi all,

Thanks for the nice comments Lisa

Sue is now up to 28 species of orchid from her own images just here in the Sierra de Grazalema
http://www.wildsideholidays.com/natural/plantlife/82-orchids

« **Reply #7 on:** March 05, 2008, 21:24 PM »

Sue/Clive,
Have just read your bit on Extremadura, you describe paradise perfectly! Well done! Very clear article.
I now know a bit more about where we have chosen to live!
Many thanks!
Judith

« **Reply #8 on:** May 06, 2008, 17:52 PM »

Hi All,

In a moment of probable madness I have decided to add a comments system to every article published at the Wildside Holidays "Clickable nature map"

At the bottom of each article is a comments box along with bookmark and other possibilities. Feel free to test it out on any article please....

here's an example of what it looks like at the bottom of an article

Clive

« **Reply #9 on:** May 06, 2008, 22:06 PM »

Quote from: Clive on January 16, 2008, 13:44 PM

Sue has been quite busy uploading many of her orchid images and writing short identification articles to go with them. Her pictures are very good indeed.

They certainly are. Congrats to Sue

« **Reply #10 on:** May 06, 2008, 22:17 PM »

Thanks Glennie,
spring is rushing along and i still have a few different orchids to track down just within these sierras!

« **Reply #11 on:** July 08, 2008, 17:47 PM »

Mantis are out and about so Sue has updated some info pages... Very interesting reading coupled with her usual high standard of images.... Did you know that mantis religiosa can detect the echo location signals of bats? Well it can and if it's flying at night and hears this it turns upside down in the air and flutters down to the ground thus avoiding being eaten....

Mantis in Iberia

Apteromantis aptera

Mantis religiosa

Clive

« **Reply #12 on:** August 14, 2009, 22:03 PM »

I have changed the front page of the nature pages to show all the latest articles we are writing... This is so i can show a feed on the main site at www.wildsideholidays.com

lots of work to do still but traffic to our sites is now exceeding 6 gig a month

www.wildsideholidays.com/natural for the latest article

« **Reply #13 on:** August 31, 2009, 21:46 PM »

Latest offering from Steve aka Parthenope on the Epaulet skimmer dragonfly.... Excellent descriptions and imgaes as usual....Thanks Steve

Epaulet skimmer dragonfly....l

« **Reply #14 on:** September 01, 2009, 00:58 AM »

Knowledgeable as ever. Will the dragonfly in the third picture recover from the debris on its wing?

« **Reply #15 on:** September 01, 2009, 20:16 PM »

Hi Clive,

Thanks for posting my article, very glad to add something to the existing wealth of information on the site.

Nick, you'll be glad to know that after I took the third photo, in keeping with being a true dragonfly geek, I picked up the dragon and cleaned it's wings off as much as I dared to without damaging them. The photo attached is the same dragon after valeting by me, shortly before it flew off!

Regards
Steve

« **Reply #16 on:** September 01, 2009, 20:19 PM »

Steve carries around a special tiny dragonfly geek vaccum cleaner... It gently massages and removes debris to give a cleaner and sleaker dragon....

« **Reply #17 on:** September 01, 2009, 20:23 PM »

I never met a dragonfly I didn't like

Thanks for not mentioning my squeak Clive

« **Reply #18 on:** September 01, 2009, 22:37 PM »

We have a little hoover that I use (well once) for the computer keyboard.........but how does one hold the dragonfly while it's being given the once over? Not serious Steve!!

« **Reply #19 on:** September 02, 2009, 11:32 AM »

That's a relief, though perhaps we should only recommend experts doing these delicate operations. With my clumbsiness, I'd probably end up knocking its wings off.